IoK Session 14 – The dream or the dreamer.

The snow was fresh fallen…  white and virgin.  Not a footprint or flaw to be seen.  It’s frosted surface reflecting the twilight and the stars of the wintery forest.  Na’Pau sat in the center of the circle.  The strangers, these six scouts that her uncle had taken in, stood still and frozen as the snow covered trees all around her.  There was no wind, which elevated the surreal nature of the dreamscape they inhabited.  Na’Pau remembered that as a child, the forest had always been alive with birds.  In this version, none could be heard.  It was a stillness that was calming, yet unnerving. 

Closing her eyes and opening her mind, she reached into the dreams of each of the sleeping strangers.  Opening the door which kept them prisoner within their bodies.  This was the first lesson of any dreamwalker… how to open the door.  Na’Pau had done so many times… opening her own door while sleeping.  The lucid dream was a place of endless wonder and freedom.  Once she had learned how, she experienced a second life which offered her every opportunity.  Her uncle had helped her at first, but then acted only as guide while she imagined all manner of adventure.  Spring time in the mountains, odysseys on the ocean, exhilarating adventures in the dwarven cities… she had explored them all.  She had endless freedom when in her dreams, but endless freedom comes with a cost.  That’s why her uncle had always stayed close.  Though he stayed silent, he never allowed her to wonder too far into her imaginary world.  It was possible to get lost, and she nearly did while in the dwarven caverns.  It was too much for her young mind to keep track of.  Caught up in the giant spiders and endless tunnels, she ran down through the maze in an exhilarated ecstasy.  When she felt she had had enough, she turned to find her footprints and return to her door.  She didn’t realize that in her spider chasing and tunnel spelunking, she had crossed her own steps too many times.  She couldn’t tell which way to go, and began to panic.  After all, she was only a child.  Children panic went they get lost, and when you panic in the dream world, you summon nightmares.  The spiders got bigger and scarier.  They chased her through the tunnels faster than her uncle could keep up.  For a while, she lost track of him and was left alone with the giant spiders.  It was a memory that haunted her still, and served as a constant reminder to stay focused.

Opening the door to each of the scouts minds, she opened her eyes and prepared for the beginning of their walk together.  They would not understand the rules of this reality, but that was her job as a spirit guide.  She would have to teach them quickly though, only one night to show them the way if the strangers would have time to save their mastersmith.  She would use the same techniques her uncle had… small challenges which would force them to stretch their imaginations and free themselves of their physical forms.  As a guide, she could only open the door and show them the way.  They would have to walk through the door themselves.

And so the dream went.  Na’Pau summoned the same dwarven chasm where the nightmare spider had haunted her as a child.  She showed them how to manifest matter, how to overcome obstacles which didn’t truly exist.  They learned to harness their spirit weapons and manipulate their perception of self.  She always found it such a deep experience when she witnessed someone learn to control their dream.  The way they manifested their own perception of self showed so much about who they were.  Some of these strangers were true warriors, down to their own sense of self.  Others were more grand.  You could see their faith, their connection with nature, their inner demons and struggles.  As they learned and began to alter the world around them, you learned about what was important to them.  How they addressed simply challenges.  For some, their minds were so rooted to the physical world that they struggled to be anything more than a duplicate of their physical bodies.  Others, those with gifted intellect or powerful wills were able to do more. 

The Srylian impressed her… his mind was powerful in this reality.  He was the first to fly.  The hynid followed shortly after, as did the dwarf.  Imagination, will, and sense of self… these were the true measures of a dreamwalker. 

After they defeated the spider, she decided to let them rest their minds for a moment.  Time didn’t pass the same in this world.  A short respite would not be wasteful, and they needed time to take their new reality in.  It also allowed her to step back into her physical form for a moment.  As the guide, she was not truly asleep as the others were.  Back in the real world, her body chanted and rocked with the rhythm of her heart.  A ritual which allowed her to keep herself in both realities, but it was tiring.  By sleeping in the dream, she could return to the real world for a drink and to change the herbs on the fire.  Just a minute or two, but she would allow hours to pass within her dreamworld.  It was the nature of the guide to stay silent.  She had always wondered why her uncle would not tell her what to do.  As she learned how to control the dreams herself, she realized it was the real world chanting that limited communication.  To speak in the dream would require her to stop chanting, and this was dangerous.  When her uncle did so to call for her, he nearly lost himself to the dream.  She would never forget that moment what he risked to save her.

When they had awoke, Na’Pau noticed a peculiarity within the dream.  A set of second tracks.  She had never seen this before and wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.  Another dreamer had somehow managed to enter her dream.  It was difficult to say what this would mean as it seemed the tracks had come and gone long past their corner of this reality.  Still, she felt uneasy about it. 

Who was guiding this dreamer, and how long had he been here?